I have heard from the propagandists of the FYROMacedonian diapora organization MHIM (Nicholov, Stefou, Uzunovski, Maurommatis e.t.c.) theirs allegations regarding the Slav Macedonian involment in the Greek Civil War and WWII. Because of its geographic and strategic significance, Greek Macedonia became the centre of important political and military events during the 1940s. Decisive fighting took place in Macedonia and Epirus during the Greek-Italian War of 1940-1941. Greek Macedonia suffered a triple occupation German, Italian, and Bulgarian, the last being the most brutal. During the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949 all of Greece suffered. But the war reached a climax in Macedonia and Epirus, the two critical frontier battlefields. In the bloody conflict between the Greek national army and the communist Democratic Army of Greece (DAG), Macedonia became the focus of interest of the Yugoslav partisans and Tito’s manipulations. The bloody struggle in Macedonia took place not only between democracy and communism, but also between communism and Hellenism, the latter endeavouring to defend Hellenic Macedonia’s territorial integrity.

In this post I will show the 4 first Slav Macedonian lies that the propagandists hidefrom theirs artificial historiography.

Slav Macedonian Lie #1, Bulgaria and FYROM relationships.

We have hear from the FYROMacedonian a lot of as about theirs history regarding Greek Macedonia in WWII but nothing as about Vardar Macedonia. Hugh Poulton (who are the Macedonians ?, pages 101-102) speak for the issue and was clear:

Quote:

[There is little doubt that the initial reaction anlong large sections of thepopulation of Vardar Macedonia who had suffered so much under the Serbian repression was to greet the Bulgarian as liberators. While Hitler did not allow the Bulgarians fornlally to annex the parts they now controlled, and the new border between the Italian and Bulgarian controlled portions was not defined, leading to periodic tensions between the two, Bulgaria was given a free hand in the areas which it controlled.

At first Bulgaria pursued policies, especially in education. Which the population welcomed. More than 800 new schools were built and a university was established in Skopje.’ However the honeymoon period did not last long as the Bulgarians soon fell into the old Balkan trap of centralization. The new provinces (Pirin and Vardar)were quickly staffed with officials fiom Bulgaria proper who behaved with typical official arrogance to the local inhabitants.

In March 1942 the central government in Sofia took absolute control over the new territories, ushering In the classical Balkan governtmental vices of bureaucracy and corruption which further alienated the population. Particularly insensitive, in view of the long and close association in the Balkans between religion and nationality, was the influx of Bulgarian Orthodox bishops who displayed the same negative features as the government bureaucrats.

The result was resentnlent and the growth of autonomist feelings]

Slav Macedonian propagandists dissemble theirs past historical intentions and one of them was the Bulgarian General Marinov. This officer a secret IMRO operative, was named military commander in Skopje, the capital of Vardar Macedonia, to coordinate IMRO’S activities in Bulgarizing both Yugoslav Macedonia and Greek Macedonia. Marinov, working closely with the Nazis, set up an office in Monastiri, staffed with high echelon lMRO leaders to coordinate activities in western Macedonia.

The amazing for this guy is that was a faschist turned communist after Bulgaria surrendered to the Allies in 1944, served as Bulgarian ambassador in Paris after the war. Greek governemnet accused him of war crimes against the Greek people (like Kaltchev) but he was never tried because Bulgaria supported by the Soviets refused to extradite him in Greece.

But was not the first Slav Macedonian that change his political intrestings. We have many cases from Slav Macedonians that change theirs thesis, fashists to communists, ethnic Macedonians to Bulgarian Macedonian and vice verca.

Slav Macedonian Lie #2, Akronauplia Incident.

Even more ominous for the troubles to come, 27 high-ranking communistic cadres were released by the Gernlans in June 1941 from the Akronauplia prison camp, where they were under detention by the Greek authorities. They owed their release to the intervention of the Bulgarian embassy in Athens.They too declared Bulgarian nationality, although a few like Andrcas Tzimas or Samariniotis who later played a key role in political developments, were not Slav Macedonian. Most of them came from the districts of Kastoria and Florina, and included some of the protagonists in the events to be described below:

According to Papakyriakopoulos (War Criminals, 35). the release was arranged by the Bulgarian embassy in Athens and the Bulgarian Club of Thessalonica. See Uranros, 103-4, for additional information about the release of the communist prisoners. A list of the released communist cadres can be found in Antonis Flountzis, 1937- 1943. Akronatiplia kai Akronaupliota (1937-1943: Akronauplia and Akronaupliotes), Athens 1989, 214, 407-8, 470, 475, 484-9, where there is more information about the released Slav Macedonians.

Some evidence on the released communists came out in the trial of the prominent Axis collaborators in 1945. A witness In the second trial of the Bulgarian war criminal Anton Kaltchev. Athanasios Prontistis, a highranking official in Chrysochoou service In Thrssaloniki and member of an anti-communist resistance orgnanization the PA0, maintained that as many as 97 communists were released from the Akronauplia prison by the Germans after declaring themselves Bulgars. According to the same source, 11 more Slav Macedonian communist cadres were kept in the Cassandra Agricultulral Prison, but they refused to register as Bulgars. (Makedonia newapaper, 11 May 1948).

According Cryshochoou in 1944 the declarations of Bulgarian nationality for the expected benefits were estimated by the Greek authorities, on the basis of monthly returns, to have reached 16,000 in the districts of German-occupied Greek Macedonia.

According to British sources, declarations of Bulgarian nationality throughout Northern Greece reached 23,000 of which however as many as 10.000 were renounced by 1044. ( F0371/58615, Thessaloniki consular report of 24 Sep. 1946).

Is clear that these Slav Macedonians before the foundation of the artificial Macedonian Communist Republic from Tito Regime in 1944, had rejected very easy theirs communist line and adopted the Bulgarian Fascist Ideology.

Slav Macedonian Lie #3, The Bulgarian Influence.

Chris Woodhouse (British Liaison Officer at the 40s) in his book (Struggle for Greece 1941-1949, page 67) mention as about the identity of the Slav Macedonians

Quote:

[Most of the Slavophone inhabitants in all parts of divided Macedoniaperhaps a million and a half in all – felt themselves to be Bulgarians at the beginning of the Occupation; and most Bulgarians, whether they supported the Communists, IMRO, or the collaborating government, assumed that all Macedonia would fall to Bulgaria after the war. Tito was determined that this should not happen. The first Congress of AVNOJ in November 1942 had paranteed equal rights to all the ‘peoples of Yugoslavia’, and specified the Macedonians among them. By inplication, the guarantee could be extended to Pirin (Bulgarian) Macedonia and Aegean (Greek) Macedonia. The Communist Party of Macedonia, which had passed through a troubled time, first under a pro-Bulgarian leadership and then under pro-Yugoslav Macedonians, was taken in hand early in 1943 by Tempo, who formed a new Central Committee and informed it that it was now an integral part of the Yugoslav CP.

After suitable re-indoctrination, the Macedonian CP issued a pro-Yugoslav ‘Ilinden Manifesto’ on 2 August, the anniversary of a national rising in 1903. Tempo told them that they could look forward to unification and autonomy within a Yugoslav Federation. This prospect was confirmed by resolutions passed at the second Congress of AVNOJ, held at Jajce at the end of November. It was said to have the approval of Moscow, but this was untrue.Stalin expressed indignation, and so did the Fatherland Front of Bulgaria (including, but not yet dominated by, the Communists), which urged a rival policy of ‘an integral, free and independent Macedonia’. Tito in turn repudiated this policy in a message to Dimitrov on 24 January 1944.]

Is obvious what was the political ideologu of the Slavonic Macedonians before the foundation of the artificial Republic of Macedonia.

According Loring Danforth (favour author of the Slavonic Macedonians) the Aegean Macedonia is a Macedonian Slav nationalist term used to refer to the region of Macedonia in Greece, in the context of a United Macedonia. The origins of the term seem to be rooted in the 1940s but its modern usage is widely considered ambiguous and irredentist. The term has occasionally appeared on maps circulated in the Republic of Macedonia, which envisioned Greek Macedonia (referred to as “Aegean Macedonia”) as part of a “Greater Macedonia”, and is regarded as a challenge of of the legitimacy of Greek sovereignty over the area.

From the above is obvious that this term is a result and political finding term of the Tito Regime (as theirs State) in order to occupy the Greek and Late the Bulgarian parts of the Macedonia in order to absorbed in the Yugoslavia Federation.

The Treaty of Bucharest 10 August 1913. The Peace Treaty of Macedona.
I required a document of division of Macedonia in 1913. Macedonia was divided among Serbia (Yugoslavia)
Pirin Macedonia in Bulgaria; Aegean Macedonia, in Greece.
You can E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

I have been seeking more information on the Greek Civil War era and the claims of “ethnic cleansing” and “forced expulsion” of the Slavs from Greece. It is hard to find factual sources with how influencial the internet can be… and there are no reliable sources that I have found that agree with their claims. Even human rights websites say that there were many Slavs that fled the turmoil of the civil war, but nothing about a forced expulsion.

Thank you. Very interesting, there is hardly any information in English or in Greek on those years and the clashes betweeen Slavomacedonians in the 1940s. I know that there are academics in Skopje who are open and honest about those years but we do not hear of their work (at least I cannot readily find it). Can you provide more information, including extracts from ‘F0371/58615, Thessaloniki consular report of 24 Sep. 1946’?
Just one thing, if I may, the commentary and personal opinions over communism and hellenism give the article an extreme nationalistic overview; this perception can even make a person doubt the authenticity of the facts provided. Your facts are strong, please allow them to speak for themselves and provide more sources. Thank you once more and let me know.

During the First and Second Balkan Wars (1912-1913) Macedonia’s neighbors fought with the Ottoman Turks using the Macedonian people as a ploy in an effort to grab land. As a consequence, under the Treaty of Bucharest, Macedonia was partitioned and Greece annexed the southern portion of Macedonia (what Macedonians call Aegean Macedonia). Before 1913 and throughout history Macedonia was never a territorial part of Greece.

After 1913, Greece, which was still ruled by a Bavarian king, undertook a policy of forced assimilation to unify its many different ethnic groups. Let me highlight a few examples of Greek policy towards Macedonians:

In 1925, the primary school textbook (the ABECEDAR) sponsored by the League of Nations and printed in Athens, was revoked by Greece in order to deny Macedonians an education in their native language.

Greece changed the names of some 1500 Macedonian towns and villages, as well as the personal names of the population it acquired when it annexed Aegean Macedonia, in order to make them appear Greek.

Do you recall the humiliation, torture and killings inflicted upon Macedonians who refused to assimilate or call themselves Greek?

Greece declared there are no Macedonians, only Greeks and referred to those Macedonians who refused to assimilate as “Bulgarians.”

Macedonia, the Macedonian language, and everything Macedonian was forbidden by the Greek dictator, Metaxas. Even our ancient churches and cemeteries were destroyed to cover up any historical evidence of the Macedonian people in the area.

One could only hear whispers from the Macedonians who lived in Greece, and they were whispering when they spoke in Macedonian because they where afraid of the Greek police who constantly monitored them. If the police heard them express their Macedonian identity in word or song they would place them in jail, their businesses would be confiscated and they would be beaten, and worse.

Everything was going on, and on, like this in Greece, until the Republic of Macedonia became independent from Yugoslavia. At that time, Greece started worrying about the Macedonian territory it annexed in 1913 and all the Macedonian properties it had confiscated over the years. It became concerned about the Macedonians who were forced to flee Greece because they declared their nationality as Macedonian and not Greek.

My grandmother was born in Chegan (Agios Atanasios), in the Voden (Edessa) region. For centuries, all of her ancestors were born there. They were never Greeks. Like hundreds of thousands in the Kukush (Kilkis) area, the Lerin (Florina) area, the Kostur (Kastoria) area and the many other areas of Aegean Macedonia they spoke an older Macedonian language, which was the precursor of today’s standardized Macedonian.

My grandparents’ ancestors transferred the history of Macedonia and the Macedonian people orally for centuries within the family, “od koleno na koleno” (from knee to knee) as we say. My grandfather was murdered in a jail cell by Greeks because he declared his Macedonian ethnic heritage and refused to say he was Greek.

I feel very sad when I think about my grandmother and grandfather and the mistreatment they received under the Greeks only because they were Macedonian. I know that thousands of Macedonian families suffered a similar fate.

Macedonians never stated that they were not Greek citizens, they just wanted to have the right to freely express and preserve their ethnic identity, language and culture. Greece never permitted this because it would undermine its revisionist claims on Macedonia.

The terms “Macedonia” and “Macedonians” were suppressed in northern Greece until the late 1980s. When it finally became clear the Republic of Macedonia would separate from the Yugoslav Federation just about everything in Greece was instantly renamed “Macedonia.”

Greece became anxious the Republic of Macedonia might make a (legitimate) claim to be re-joined with its ancestral southern portion, the Aegean part of Macedonia, now the heavily-colonized northern Greek province of Macedonia.

At that moment Greece had a golden opportunity to take responsibility for the mistreatment of its Macedonian minority and get beyond the Macedonian issue. Instead, it whipped up nationalist frenzy, closed schools and businesses and initiated a huge, “spontaneous,” demonstration in Solun (Salonica) aimed at silencing any dissent.

Nowadays, through its unofficial extensions like the Pan Macedonian group, it uses questionable political tactics abroad to promote revisionist histories and myths of Greek racial purity in Macedonia.

I believe it is a fundamental right that people be allowed to freely express their ethnic identity. That Greece, via the Pan Macedonian Association, would try to impose a Greek identity upon its Macedonian minority reveals the extent to which racism is still rampant in Greece today.